Jorginho saw his penalty saved by Yann Sommer, with Domenico Berardi and Ciro Immobile wasting great chances, as Italy were held 0-0 in Switzerland for this World Cup qualifier, but set the record of 36 games unbeaten.
See how the game unfolded on our Liveblog.
The Azzurri make history with a 36-game unbeaten run, a new world record, and visited the side they had beaten 3-0 in June during their march towards UEFA EURO 2020 glory. Roberto Mancini made four changes from the team that drew 1-1 with Bulgaria on Thursday, introducing Manuel Locatelli, Domenico Berardi, Giorgio Chiellini and Giovanni Di Lorenzo. The hosts were missing numerous stars, as Granit Xhaka has COVID-19, Xherdan Shaqiri, Mario Gavranovic, Breel Embolo and Eray Comert are injured, with Remo Freuler suspended, so Fabian Frei had his first cap since March 2018.
Ciro Immobile shinned over when set up by Nicolò Barella, but Berardi should’ve done so much better when sent clear on the counter from a Swiss corner by Locatelli, firing straight at Yann Sommer one-on-one.
Another Locatelli inspired pass created an opportunity for Immobile, while Ricardo Rodriguez’s deflected cross hit the side-netting and Lorenzo Insigne’s curler skimmed the far top corner.
There was a real scare when Manuel Akanji’s header looped inches past the woodwork with Gianluigi Donnarumma struggling to get there.
On the stroke of half-time, Insigne’s free kick from the tightest of angles was punched out from under the bar by Sommer.
Straight after the restart, Immobile pounced on a Ricardo Rodriguez defensive error and the Torino defender made it even worse by going in late on Berardi. Jorginho stepped up, but Sommer is a specialist on spot-kicks and saved the weak, central penalty. It was the first time Jorginho has failed to convert for Italy in normal time, but his second in a row considering the saved effort during the EURO 2020 Final shoot-out.
Nicolò Zaniolo was thrown on as a False 9 for his first Italy appearance in 363 days. Insigne was blocked off at the last moment twice by Akanji and Nico Elvedi, then was denied only by a sensational Sommer double save, again sent through by Locatelli.
When Zaniolo did manage to shake Akanji off, he slipped at the crucial moment, then tested Sommer directly from the corner flag.
Switzerland also threatened with Zakaria from a tricky angle, but Chiesa went on an astonishing run in which he nutmegged Elvedi, rode a sliding tackle and was eventually brought down by the third defender.
Switzerland 0-0 Italy
Switzerland: Sommer; Widmer, Elvedi, Akanji, Rodriguez (Garcia 63); Aebischer, Frei, Sow (Zakaria 63); Zuber (Vargas 63), Steffen (Fassnacht 71); Seferovic (Zaqiri 85)
Italy: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bonucci, Chiellini, Emerson; Barella (Pessina 90), Jorginho, Locatelli (Verratti 77); Berardi (Chiesa 59), Immobile (Zaniolo 59), Insigne (Raspadori 90)
Ref: Del Cerro Grande (ESP)
Saved penalty: Jorginho 53 (I)
The magic is over, technically Italy has tied the last 4 games. They need to go to scoring school. They were out played in the second half. Lucky to get the tie. Great to see Immobile get the start, I love watching him struggle.
alotta takes from these performances… 1. Immobile c’mon man.
bet anyone $100 he scores 5 goals in next 3 Lazio games but will score 0 in next 10 azzurri games, not including past 5 azzurri games hes failed to score.
2. Jorginho and that stupid pk style. should of let Ciro take it. just blast to a corner or down the middle. i feel 99.9 % Ciro (or Berardi, Insigne) would of scored and thus give him some cred. and confidence.
3. 4-4-2 next game please. we need 6 points. Switz. has 2 games in hand against rest of minnow teams. they could over take us in top spot.
Why play Immobile who is so bad at the moment, Insigne and Berardi are not any better. Give the others a chance, they can not do any worse you would think.
Chiesa needed to start, only Mancini knows why he left him for later.
I can not believe these players won the Euros.
Italy need to get a good thrashing from someone to understand that they need to work harder at the basics.
A repeat of 2017 loading
Ya no way they win this group now I don’t see Swiss losing points to Bulgaria Or n Ireland and certainly not to Lithuania.
1) Till Jorginho gets confidence back, Bonucci shud take penalties
2) Need a tall strong targetman in the box
3) Pellegrini is in excellent form, can score frm any angle, left-foot, right- foot, long rangers, free-kicks, penalties .. shud play
4) Against strong opposition, Chiesa must start (was a blunder not to start him today, he would’ve buried one or 2 of those Locatelli’s superb goal scoring passes) so should Locatelli
5) Scamacca or Kean in place of Immobile
6) Zaniolo not yet in peak form .. but shud play 15-20 mins regularly
7) Calabria, Bastoni and Mancini shud get game time to be prepared
If we’d got 6 points or atleast 4 from this round of Qualifiers the Nation’s League would have a different meaning. Now with qualification in the balance .. and NL victory having no consequence on WC qualification .. will the team be up for it ?? Should R. Mancini try out different players, give more opportunities to Bastoni, Mancini, Kean, Scamacca etc ??
Thought we’ll go through with the WC Qualifiers this time round without any tension .. just relax and enjoy .. but no .. we have to suffer .. we are Azzurri supporters na 🙄❗❗ Anyways Forza Azzurri always 🇮🇹👍👊💙🍀
❤️🇮🇹⚽️🏆🇮🇹⚽️🏆⚽️🇮🇹❤️
WOW. So much negativity despite a summer of joy and pride. Pathetic. Nothing is ever good enough for the plastic generation.
It’s two draws in matches we should’ve / would’ve won if not for a penalty save and brilliant goalkeeping. You’d have thought we’re winless in 36 games.
Zaniolo or Sensi should replace Barella, he is the weakest link in the team. He is good player but we need more creative player in his position.
Jorghino needs a break .. has played too many matches .. for Italy especially rarely he has been substituted playing whole 90′
Jorginho has used his Slow-Ball Penalty-Kick Trick consecutively thrice now and that is far too much frequent for a Trick to be used and has failed twice including the EURO-Final because the Opponents have figured him out. He should understand that an Exception is not the Norm and a Trick should be used occasionally as a Surprise.
it has now been four Draws in a Row for Italy now: vs Spain, vs England, vs Bulgaria and vs Switzerland. The longest Streak of Draws in the Mancini Era till Date.